This application is based on application No. H11-208367 filed in Japan on Jul. 23, 1999, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera that is mounted on the human body to shoot a moving object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cameras which are put on such a part of the human body as the head to record images and voice and sound are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. H9-65188, H8-46848, S63-284529, H3-289893. Those cameras permit recording images and voice and sound without taking the trouble to manually level the camera at an object.
However, problems with those cameras are that it is difficult to run the camera for a long time because of limited power and memory capacity. A larger battery could be mounted, but that would boost the costs and increase the size. A larger memory could also be used, but that, too, would increase the costs and it would take long to pick out a desired scene in playback.
If it is possible to run the camera for a long time, the images and voice and sound recorded by the camera will be very helpful to the wearer in recalling details of the past developments such as, for example, who he met, what he did and where he put what. Furthermore, the recording is useful in analyzing the behaviors of the wearer to find out what and how he saw and how he reacted on seeing that.
In view of the prior art described above, including the disadvantages and deficiencies of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a camera to be mounted on the human body that permits shooting for a longer time by saving the memory capacity and power consumption and which records information useful for the wearer.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a camera is provided with a shooting unit for shooting an image of an object, the shooting unit worn by a user, a detector for detecting a state of the user automatically, the detector worn by the user, a selector for selecting an operation mode, based on the state detected by the detector, from among a plurality of operation modes provided for controlling the shooting unit, and a controller for controlling the shooting unit based on the operation mode selected by the selector.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a camera is provided with a shooting unit for shooting an image of an object, the shooting unit worn by a user, a processor for processing image data representative of the image shot by the shooting unit, a detector for detecting a state of the user automatically, the detector worn by the user, a selector for selecting an operation mode, based on the state detected by the detector, from among a plurality of operation modes provided for controlling the processor, and a controller for controlling the processor based on the operation mode selected by the selector.